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1 | A Rooted DwellingCHAPTER 5 I usually am, how does one say it, content. Yes, I may have used this word before. The day was clear. Not bright. It was cool with a calming breeze that brought the pollen of other plants with it and took with it from here the heat that radiated back from the ground. It was pretty much like this most of the time. I like the way the breeze tickled my branches. Fluttering my leaves. It looked exactly as how the birdsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; feathers ruffle in the wind as it lands on the ground early in the morning. The birds draw its food from the ground just like I do but what I eat does not struggle. I feel it flow into me and it rejuvenates me. Very much like how the sun treats me. I especially feel lively on those dark cloudy days when the rain falls.2 | A Rooted DwellingThough, not in those harsh times and with those lines of white that make the dark skies look like day for an instant. I do not like that line of white. It was one of those nights that I felt a shearing pain run through me. It was unlike any other I felt before. It hurt, yes, but it disappeared just as quick. I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t bleed like I did at that time. I feltâ&#x20AC;Ś empty. That part of me that hurt just seemed to not exist anymore. I have heard of humans talking of death. I have seen it happen. They were not very vocal about it. They were sad. I know what sadness is now. I saw it in that boyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s face. It was a night that was darker than usual. The stars that were usually up there in the sky were gone and were replaced with these gentle shimmers of white light that became brighter and brighter. It took on many shapes and forms before it vanished and the darkness took over the night sky again.3 | A Rooted DwellingJust after every bright white light, a long lingering rumbling sound can be heard. It was getting louder as the lights were getting brighter and then through the darkness the sudden line of white appeared from behind the clouds and brightened up the whole hill. With it now, a sound that that was deafening. How I learnt that word? Just moments before, an old man and a young girl ran up to my trunk. The old man mainly limped but the young girl seemed to edge him on. They were wet from the rain and looked to me for shelter. I gave them what I could. My leaves were not large enough to hold away the rain but they did the best it could. Only large droplets of water fell from them unto the old man and the girl below. She called him Grandpapa. She wanted to go home. With every flash of the white light, she would scream and with every sound that came afterwards, she would cover both her ears with her hands and scream again. A high shrilled scream. She called it deafening. Not once. Many times. I learnt this word here. I learnt it through her actions.4 | A Rooted DwellingThrough her words. I also learnt how humans comfort. I first saw it with that young couple but I also saw the fear in both their eyes. Yet they were holding each other tight. They marked my trunk with such vigor, it hurt me, but it is still there. It was different here. I see the fear in the young girl’s eyes. She leaned into her Grandpapa closer. The old man wrapped his arms around her head. He held her tight. There was no fear in his eyes. It was different. Not opposite. Different. he had this look of determination. It was the same look that that young man had on his face as he stood by me so very long ago. I knew about determination. I have no way of feeling it myself. Neither do I have any desire to feel it. Which makes me question, do I feel? The old man was telling her not to fear the thundering. So that’s what those sounds were. It was hard to say how loud they were. I could hear them. I could feel it too. I shook with every thunder. I really couldn’t tell how loud they were for them for the girl had her ears covered but the old man did not.5 | A Rooted DwellingI kept wondering why. I still do. Various thoughts and ideas arise as to why but as long as I have the numerous thoughts and ideas on a single matter, I will not settle with it. This went on for quite some time. The lightning, which the old man also told the girl not to be scared about had a different effect on him, however. It was strange. To see his expression change from one of determination to one of uncertainty and then back. These humans had so many looks. Although, I remember that there were some humans who had the same constant expression all the way through but it was always accompanied with some sort of evil. This one time, the other lad who was next to me was looking down at these people, with a slight smile forming on the corner of his lip. At the same time, a number of people, each one looking at each other with a different expression. Each one giving or getting something that affects the other in so many different ways.6 | A Rooted DwellingIt was then that a bright light lit the entire hill up causing the old man to let go of the child and cover his eyes with his left arm. He took a step back at the same time. The young girl was leaning into him with all her might and it was with his step back that she lost her balance and fell down. It was then that I felt the shearing pain. It was then that they ran from me. It was at that moment another flash of lightning a short distance away that lit up the sky and showed me the look of shock and horror on their face and as the lightning faded away, what was left on their faces was a soft warm glow of orange light. They ran away from me. the pain was increasing. And then it stopped. The glow of orange that lit up the hill around me just disappeared and the blackness of the night took over. The wind dropped. The night became silent. The rain reduced until it was nothing. The pain was gone but what I knew I had before had also gone with it.7 | A Rooted DwellingThe night was then exactly like every other night. Quiet and lonely. I was wet. The morning brought the first rays of light of the day. Where my branch was supposed to be, now there was nothing. No. I cannot say nothing. There was black. On the ground, was my branch. A bird nest crushed under its weight. Yesterday morning, I heard the young ones crying. Today there was nothing. I could see my branch and I could feel nothing. I could not feel it. I start to wonder what it felt like. I seem to have forgotten. I guess that will be what will happen if I die. I will probably just forget.8 | A Rooted DwellingAll that I have learned. Should I consider it forgotten or unlearned? I have heard about this thing. It is called worry. Have I learned to worry? What purpose can a tree have with worry? Should I worry that I have nothing to worry about? See? So many things to think about on a single matter. I did mention that I will withhold until I have a singular answer on any topic.

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